Muscovite General Actions and Movements

[JEDCJT]

Classified:

 

After deliberations with the Council of Ministers and the Imperial Ruling Council, High Governor Wilhuff Tarkin decided to crush "Sovietism" by force as a means of making an example out of it for all to see. He placed many, if not all, military units around Tver on high alert, and mobilized COMPOC special detachments consisting of heavily-armed Internal Troopers and Inquisitors to seal off all roads into and out of the city. Satellite blinders would be employed to prevent outside satellite surveillance, and communications jamming to prevent any communications from coming out of the city for the duration of the operation. Military bases right outside Tver suspected to be sympathetic to the Soviet cause would be surrounded by loyalist units and barricaded off. After an initial reconnaissance campaign, in which UAVs were sent over the city to reconnoiter the situation on the ground, 'Operation Raan' promptly began when the COMPOC detachments launched a series of nighttime lightning raids upon strategic targets via land and air, namely airports, factories, police buildings, and the Suvorov Academy building, which served as headquarters of the Tver Soviet, among others. Ilya Makarov and Mayor Sernov were singled out for arrest.

 

Resistance to the operation were virtually nonexistent as many factory workers were apprehended at their homes and arrested; the same happened to many police officers and Soviet deputies, the latter which were either gunned down in their homes or taken to obscure warehouses in the city's outskirts to face the same fate. Their families would be rounded up and deported to labor camps in the north. Airports and police buildings would be seized as to solidify COMPOC control over the city, followed by many factories, which would be forcibly closed down. The Suvorov Academy building, however, would put up unexpectedly fierce resistance as its Red Guards defenders, after initial bewilderment, fought back. When the fighting got too intense, Army units were called in, where their superior firepower and heavy equipment quickly put an end to Soviet resistance, and COMPOC troops filed into the ruined Academy building, shooting on the spot any survivor they found. Tver would be placed under a "special state of emergency" and a provisional governor installed in place, to be tasked with unleashing a reign of terror upon the populace.

 

In Moscow, Governor Tarkin would be updated on the success of Operation Raan, although he would be disappointed by the failure to capture Makarov and Sernov and several of other high-ranking officials, who had seemingly disappeared midst the chaos of the operation. 

 

Ah, no matter, Tarkin said. Makarov and his cronies would be apprehended sooner or later, it was only a matter of time. Besides, the message had been received loud and clear by Tver's local populace and by the rest of the Empire. The operation would serve as a clear example for those who would dare defy the Empire and the Tsar himself. After all, fear would keep the local systems in line, as Tarkin aptly put it to one of his subordinates, the fear of Imperial power.

 

The crushing of Soviet power in Tver would not be the end of it, rather it would only serve as but a pretext for the real operation Tarkin and other high-ranking members of the Tsarist Government planned to carry out, one that would usher in a "lasting peace, order, and stability" across the Empire.

 

The targets? 

 

Imran Markov and the Ultranationalists.

Edited August 23, 2014 by JEDCJT

[JEDCJT]

High Governor Tarkin's attempts to shore up Imperial authority and demonstrate that the Empire would tolerate no challenge to its hold on power through the brutal suppression of the Tver Soviet proved to be an abject failure. Despite stringent censorship, news of the crushing of the Tver Soviet filtered out to the rest of the Empire through whispered word of mouth, and soon criticism of Tarkin and his heavy-handed actions began to emerge and then circulate around the high echelons of the Imperial government, including the State Duma, Imperial Ruling Council, and even the Tsar's court itself. Calls to remove High Governor Tarkin from his position began to mount, compounded by the news that new Soviets began to proliferate across the Empire as if in defiance of Moscow, sometimes accompanied by public demonstrations that were sometimes put down by force. 

 

The Petrograd Soviet was proclaimed in St. Petersburg, followed by Moscow, Belgorod, Izhevsk, Penza, Perm, Smolensk, and many other cities, far more what would have transpired had Tarkin not authorized Operation Raan. A new Tver Soviet was even in the process of formation right under the noses of military officials and soldiers that controlled Tver! This put the Imperial Government in a tricky position, given that it had previously demanded the dissolution of the Tver Soviet. For it to publicly backpedal would be a highly humiliating loss of face that the Empire would never recover from, yet for it to publicly concede to the proliferation of Soviets would be equally as painful. Debates were held in the Imperial Ruling and Privy councils of how to reconcile the Empire's position to the situation on the ground.

 

Finally, a decision was reached. Soviet leaders would be surreptitiously contacted by "unofficial" Imperial representatives and invited to a closed meeting in the College of Governors. In the arduous negotiations that followed, Moscow's representatives would accept the existence of the Soviets as long they accepted the supreme authority of the Tsar and his high officials such as High Governors, paid Imperial taxes in a timely manner, and obeyed Imperial law and the Imperial Charter. In turn, the Soviets would receive a considerable degree of autonomy and allowed to operate as long as they "continued to maintain the confidence of the public", to conduct free and popular elections that included other social groups such as professionals, and to send representatives to the State Duma. The regular city councils would serve as liaison offices between the Imperial government and the Soviets. Although Tarkin would not be removed from his position or reprimanded for his actions, Imperial representatives told the Soviet leaders, he would be "strictly held accountable to the Tsar himself for the fair and just performance of his official tasks in the function of High Governor in regards to the continued administration of the Soviets." In other words, he and other High Governors would not be allowed to interfere in the operations of the Soviets.

 

An agreement would be drawn up and signed, and all participants would be sworn to secrecy under the penalty of death. Only one copy of the agreement would be allowed to be in existence, to be maintained by 'unspeakable' officials in the Personal Chancellery, and be classified a "Compartmentalized State Secret Information", the highest level of security clearance in the Empire. 

 

No public announcement would be made by the Tsar's government or the Soviets. Instead, the Ministry of Public Relations would be tasked with subtly propagating, beginning with grassroots organizations and local government officials and continuing upwards to higher government offices, an ideology that would be best summarized in the phrase, "Tsar and the Soviets". Anti-Soviet propaganda would be slowly toned down as well. 

[JEDCJT]

Given the rapid proliferation of a new beverage known as 'Death Vodka', its wild popularity midst troubled youths and young adults across Russia, and its soul-shatteringly low prices, the government did an experiment to determine whether it would be used as the death penalty. After initial experiments proved a wild success, given that it would save billions of rubles in bullets, gas, and fuel costs, and save obese bears the agony of bloated tummies, the government thus decreed that Death Vodka shall be used as a literal means of execution, pun totally intended. 

 

SO MOTE IT BE!

[Captain Enema]

Given the rapid proliferation of a new beverage known as 'Death Vodka', its wild popularity midst troubled youths and young adults across Russia, and its soul-shatteringly low prices, the government did an experiment to determine whether it would be used as the death penalty. After initial experiments proved a wild success, given that it would save billions of rubles in bullets, gas, and fuel costs, and save obese bears the agony of bloated tummies, the government thus decreed that Death Vodka shall be used as a literal means of execution, pun totally intended. 

 

SO MOTE IT BE!

 

 

10,000 cases of Death Vodka are dispatched to the Russian Ministry of Injustice for immediate deployment.

[JEDCJT]

True to form, the Imperial government would begin to 'bend' the agreement to fit its agenda. Undercover COMPOC agents masquerading as enthusiastic applicants would be sent to infiltrate the Soviets, especially youths from Impyou. The same went for factories and workplaces, schools, military bases, and the committees that represented them. Infrobur agents would surreptitiously begin gathering data based on their observations of Soviet daily activities, and submit daily reports to their superiors in the Lubyanka. Impbur agents disguised as engineers and maintenance personnel would place concealed bugs and monitoring equipment in Soviet meeting places and other buildings.

[JEDCJT]

Premier Markov would surreptitiously begin looking for ways to expand his constrained position of power in the Imperial government. He would authorize the expansion of the thousand-strong Kommissazul to over 10,000 troops and personnel, as well the provision of more state-of-the-art weapons and weaponry to Kommissazul officials. Ultranationalist operatives would continue to conduct business with organized crime syndicates, particularly arm-dealings; weaponry and equipment in Ultranationalist hands would slowly but steadily accumulate, thanks to the role of corrupt military officials and sympathizers. Aware of Imperial infiltration of Soviets, as revealed by several COMPOC sympathizers, Markov would instruct the Soviets to set up 'counterintelligence centers' to counter Imperial infiltration, temporarily suspend recruitment, and conduct thorough membership reviews. The 'counterintelligence centers' were to serve as the nucleus of a national Commission (Cheka) Markov planned to establish to supplant the ISB. Markov would also instruct Internal Affairs Minister Armand Isard to launch a crackdown on "extremist groups" such as the fiercely-independent National Bolshevik Party. Raids would be launched against such groups in the dead of night, in which dozens of leaders would be shot out of hand and their members hauled off to secret prisons disguised as mental institutions.

[JEDCJT]

In a top-secret meeting with high-ranking Soviet leaders, Premier Imran Markov instructed them to begin setting up intelligence centers (INTCs) and internal oversight centers (INOVs) to supplement the work conducted by the counterintelligence centers (COINs). This was a step forward toward an Extraordinary Commission for State Security (chrezvychaynaya komissiya gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti, ChKGB or Cheka) that Markov was planning to establish at a national level. The three centers were to serve as something of a counterbalance against Imperial power.

 

Moreover, Markov ordered the intensification of the ongoing clampdown against "extremist groups", with dozens of National Bolshevik and other party headquarters being raided across the country and several hundreds arrested, interrogated, and hauled off to prison. On his orders, at least a dozen of secret prisons controlled by Cheka operatives were being constructed in remote locations across the Empire, particularly Solovki, to hold such prisoners. He also secretly approved the formation and proliferation of the Black Hundreds, also known as the Yellowshirts, in major cities and towns across the country, although his administration made no comment about it in public.

 

As Markov was slowly consolidating his power, he was increasingly confronted with the question of how to deal with Imperial 'strongholds', especially the military. Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu was no friend of the Ultranationalist administration, Markov knew. Their first meeting had ended on less than friendly terms. As long as Shoygu remained in his post, Markov was entirely at the mercy of the powerful Imperial government, and he absolutely loathed the thought of being easily dislodged from power if someone higher in the government as much as wiggled their little finger. 

 

After much thinking, Markov picked up his phone. He had an important phone call to make.

 

Somewhere in the offices of the Personnel Management Bureau in the Ministry of Internal Oversight, or known as the Assassination Bureau, a phone rang.

Edited September 26, 2014 by JEDCJT

[JEDCJT]

CLASSIFIED

 

Little did everyone know was that newly-appointed Defense Minister Anatoly Konstantin was an Ultranationalist sympathizer. The fact that he had never formally joined the Ultranationalist party was a crucial factor that led to his appointment, given that the Tsar had previously rejected Markov's choice of Antonin Vlasov, an avowed Ultranationalist, for the Defense position. Through Konstantin, Markov had nominal control over the Imperial Military, despite the fact that a large majority of the officer corps and soldiers were loyal to the Tsar.

 

With his feet in the military door, Markov proceeded to follow through on his promise to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice, albeit not in the way that everyone else thought or expected. He established a special commission consisting of Internal Affairs, Internal Oversight, and Justice officials - all carefully handpicked by himself - to conduct the investigation, that is, if the term 'investigation' meant the deliberate interference in any police investigation not under the jurisdiction of his commission, and the planting of false evidence to incriminate several high-ranking Imperial officials in the Cabinet and the rest of the Imperial government.

 

His target in this case was Justice Minister Natalya Romanova, whom Markov was certain would launch an investigation of her own, one that if allowed to go on any further, would eventually uncover his own role in the assassination. Since Markov could not have her assassinated or otherwise put of the picture (it would be far too coincidental and draw too much unwanted attention), he opted to make things as difficult for Romanova and her officials as possible; constant jurisdiction battles and obstinately obstructive attitudes and behaviors by Markov's investigators would be the norm in the investigative process. To saturate Romanova's courts, Markov intensified the 'clampdown' on extremist elements, contacted the criminal underworld to make things difficult for Romanova's officials, ordered the Yellowshirts to "create as much ruckus as possible" on the streets, and instructed his secret operatives to foster unrest in Russia's restive North Caucasian regions. The goal was to create the impression that Russia was beginning to spiral out of control, and that Shoygu's assassination was a sign of things to come.

 

All the while, Ultranationalist MPs would begin drafting an enabling bill that would temporarily grant Markov's government "appropriate plenary powers to deal with emergency situations that adversely affect the Russian people". Although acknowledging the sacred authority of the Tsar and his ruling circles, the MPs would explain that since Markov was the head of the government, he should have the right to assume greater powers and responsibilities to swiftly and efficiently deal with situations that require urgent attention.

[JEDCJT]

Putingrad:

 

The national defense project had been progressing on a steady rate since it was ordered by the deceased Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu years ago. Due to its small size, the Putingrad (Kaliningrad) Governorate came closest to completion, with over 97 percent of its overall fortifications completed.

 

Many airbases, airfields, Army bases, and naval facilities passed inspection and had been upgraded whenever possible. At least a dozen of underground and onground bases were successfully constructed, with a few still underway. A comprehensive tunnel system of machine-gun and other heavy guns were largely in place alongside the coast, with engineers and constructors putting the final touches. Fixed and mobile aerial defense systems (with the latter being prioritized over the former), such as missile launchers (particularly S-300 SAM launchers), artillery pieces, and 40mm anti-aircraft guns were in place throughout the Governorate. The same went for mobile RADAR systems. As for the SOSUS system off the Putingrad coast, sonar arrays, RADAR transmitters, and sonar platforms were firmly rooted to the seafloor.

 

Hundreds, if not thousands, of remote-controlled thermite were in place alongside the Governorate's land borders and coasts; control stations were now in full operation. Hundreds of naval thermite mines were emplaced on the seafloor in large concentrations as well, linked by cables and junction boxes.

 

Rest of Russia:

 

Due to Russia's vast size and various geopolitical considerations, the national defense project would have varying progress, with smaller regions having higher completion rates and larger regions lower rates. For instance, the borders with Belarus and the Ukraine, being one of the earliest fortifications, would be 52 percent completed (with ones in Luhansk and Donetsk alone approaching 81 percent completion). Fortifications in the North Caucasus region were approximately 37 percent complete, due to the difficult terrain; the number of defenses would be higher alongside the Black Sea coast. Construction of fortifications alongside the southern border had been suspended due to Russia's treaty with Parthia, while there were virtually no such defenses along the northern border with Sverige. As for the eastern border, construction officials reported that 15 percent of the fortifications there were successfully completed near the border with Vostokslavia, and that resources would be prioritized there.